37-year-old star Messi joined the team nicknamed Herons last summer on a free transfer. After 19 years playing in Europe, including the last two years at Paris Saint-Germain, the 2022 FIFA World Cup winner has begun a new adventure by heading to South Florida to join Miami.
Since knowing that Messi will leave the French team, many fans have been eagerly waiting for the Argentine star to follow Ronaldo to the rich Saudi Pro League. However, transfer expert Romano said that Messi does not want to play in the same tournament as Ronaldo. The reason Messi doesn’t play football is because of his finances and he has a close relationship with David Beckham, co-owner of Miami.
Romano told GOAL: “Messi is not short of money. He plays in the American Professional League (MLS) not because of economics. Messi’s first thought is to do everything family and it is important that he is close to David Beckham.
In addition, Messi playing football in America has the opportunity to build a squad with some players who are his friends, such as Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba, and recently Suarez, who once wore the same Barca shirt. Messi can create what he wants there, which is very different in Saudi Arabia. There are many different reasons, but I know Messi has been preparing for the next step in his career for a long time.
In fact, Messi also has many invitations to the Saudi Arabia tournament with unprecedented salaries and benefits. Messi can even earn many times more than Ronaldo. But in the end, Messi chose to come to America for reasons beyond just football.”
Both Ronaldo and Messi are experiencing their first full seasons at their new clubs. Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are considered two of the best players to have ever played beautiful football. Even though they have passed through the ranks of veterans, both are still playing strongly, with few signs of slowing down.
Ronaldo, 39, is having a great season at Saudi Pro League giant Al-Nassr, with 42 goals and 12 assists in 41 matches in all competitions. His team finished second in the league, 12 points behind champions Al Hilal.
Meanwhile, 37-year-old Messi is off to a good start in his first full season in American soccer with the Herons, scoring 12 goals and providing 11 assists in 12 matches across all competitions. Miami currently leads the MLS East table, 3 points ahead of the team behind and has played one match more, after finishing in the penultimate position last season.
Messi also just won the Man of the Match award after his historic debut last weekend, breaking many MLS records and setting a new club record. Accordingly, Messi is the first player to have 5 assists in an MLS match and became the first person to contribute to 6 goals in Inter Miami’s 6-2 rout of the New York Red Bulls. .
To this point, Messi contributed 22 goals, the highest in MLS (10 goals, 12 assists) in just 675 minutes. And by contributing goals in the first eight matches of this season, the Argentine is the third in tournament history to achieve this achievement, along with Cobi Jones (9 goals in 1998) and Clint Dempsey (8 goals). table in 2015).
Messi is also the first player in the club’s history to score at least 10 goals and 10 assists in a season. With superstar Messi, Miami has scored an average of 2.66 goals per match, equaling the MLS record in a season set by LA Galaxy in 1998.
Herons currently leads MLS in points (24), points per game (2), wins (7), goals scored (32) and goal difference (+14). In the last 4 matches, Messi and his teammates have scored 16 goals with at least 3 goals per match.
